Saturday, October 3, 2009

Back to the Brooklyn engines: ritual morning 7-second Black Magic coffee grinding, my friend the school bus idling her motor 1 to 2 am, the treadmill ovaling under me, last turnings of the ceiling fan, and my lyric engine going too - tonight finished one inspired by a visit to a Mount Etna crater last summer in Sicily. Once you realized how pliable the hardened lava was, you could jump around in those coffee grounds with no fear! In the new song, the lavatongue takes me on a journey to the sea.

First full week back in NY was slightly more tea-infused, with the happy arrival of Roshi from London. Between the final summer sighting of the Atlantic and blue pedicures, we performed co-bills at Goodbye Blue Monday and Joe's Pub.

Roshi's voice soars effortlessly, and her songs are gorgeous and other-worldly. Her new album, Roshi Feat. Pars Radio The Sky and the Caspian Sea is launching October 19, and features her songs about pills and sheep, paces, and beautiful corners.

Goodbye Blue Monday was graciously hosted by The Debutante Hour, and it gave me the opportunity to return a postcard they had left in Padova of a semi-racy nun.

A concert can be an excuse to buy a dress. Here's me trying it on.

Our co-bills gave Roshi and I the chance to play each other's music. Besides a comedic mic-wobbling situation, the Joe's Pub show had a serenity and relaxed vibe to it. And the audience glowed with special artists and musicians...

October's IBEAM show was cancelled in the moment because only one person came to it. Warming up on some song excerpts with Peter Hess was lovely though, and we all got to drink some Brooklyn beers instead. I feel like transitions are happening for everyone, where we're all, via disappointments and triumphs, reaching to a higher, more intense level of life. A big, fearless caffeinated mountain.

About Me

Amy Kohn is applauded by some of the top composer/producers in modern song: Van Dyke Parks says she’s “Brimming with such talent!” and the late, legendary Producer Arif Mardin dubbed Amy a “Musical Devil in a Red Dress” and featured her on his final recording, "All My Friends Are Here," along with performers such as Norah Jones, Chaka Khan, and Carly Simon. Amy always seeks sounds she’s never heard, and it comes through in the “oddly structured beauty” (Scottish Herald) of her highly arranged, effervescent music.
An international touring artist, Amy has performed her music at festivals and venues such as Italy’s UBI Jazz, Woma Jazz, Geni Musicali, Croatia’s FoPa, Berlin’s Clavier-Cabinett, and London’s famed 12 Bar and Ray’s Jazz Shop. In New York she leads her 7-piece band to top NY venues such as Joe’s Pub and the Issue Project Room. Her 3rd album, PlexiLusso, recorded between Italy and the U.S. and featuring 17 musicians on everything from winds to windmills, will be released September 16, with the single, "Everyone's in Love" available August 19.